Confusion over child tax credits delay for East European worker

FOR more than a year factory worker Cezary has been waiting for his child tax credits.

The Southport dad, originally from Poland, said they were supposed to take just a few weeks to be paid.

Cezary’s problems were brought to the attention of MP John Pugh who wrote a letter to ex-Treasury minister Stephen Timms.

Mr Timms gave the minimum-wage worker a number to contact a Customer Relations Officer at the tax office in Preston.

When he phoned he said he was told there was no such person.

The dad said he has applied and reapplied and been told he does not have responsibility for his child.

In the latest twist he was told to send his one-year-old daughter’s passport to them.

Six weeks later he is yet to have it returned and has notified the police.

The 25-year-old said: “I have lost almost all my health.”

He has shed so much weight he has had to put his wedding ring on his middle finger.

Cezary, whose wife is now expecting his second child, believes there are thousand of other East European workers in the same position as him.

A HMRC spokesperson said: “We are sorry that Mr Cieslak is unhappy with the service he has received from HMRC. We will be looking at the circumstances of his claim, and hope to contact him in due course.”